Lead Positive: What Highly Effective Leaders See, Say, and Do

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Focus on the Future

When a leader can see beyond the present to a future worth marching into, it is like a beacon lighting the way and pulling everyone involved forward. You can actually feel the momentum when even a relatively small step is taken toward achieving that future. In this dynamic, the pursuit becomes a gift not a grind.

Your ability to see a rewarding future is what leadership researchers Bernard Bass and Antonakis Avolio refer to as a “strong force of leadership.”¹ This is because a rewarding vision motivates both leaders and followers to perform to their full potential. The science backs this up. The reward pathways in the brain use the neurotransmitter dopamine to motivate and reward desire-driven behavior. Studies have shown ...